Bogart Wealth LLC Sells 193 Shares of AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME)

Bogart Wealth LLC lessened its position in AMETEK, Inc. (NYSE:AME) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 21,954 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 193 shares during the period. Bogart Wealth LLC’s holdings in AMETEK were worth $3,957,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AME. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its holdings in AMETEK by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,450 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $261,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of AMETEK by 42.9% in the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 233 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC grew its stake in AMETEK by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC now owns 3,348 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $604,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in AMETEK by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,843 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $332,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wallace Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in AMETEK by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Wallace Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,371 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $235,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at AMETEK

In other AMETEK news, insider Tony J. Ciampitti sold 16,210 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.01, for a total transaction of $3,193,532.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 49,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,750,024.90. This represents a 24.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Emanuela Speranza sold 6,747 shares of AMETEK stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $195.90, for a total value of $1,321,737.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,460 shares in the company, valued at $5,967,114. This represents a 18.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.61% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AME shares. Bank of America upgraded AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of AMETEK from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of AMETEK from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, StockNews.com raised AMETEK from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $204.67.

AMETEK Stock Performance

AME opened at $184.57 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $183.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $177.11. AMETEK, Inc. has a 1 year low of $149.03 and a 1 year high of $198.33. The stock has a market cap of $42.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. AMETEK had a return on equity of 16.94% and a net margin of 19.83%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.68 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that AMETEK, Inc. will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current year.

AMETEK announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Friday, February 7th that allows the company to buyback $1.25 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the technology company to reacquire up to 2.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

AMETEK Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from AMETEK’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. AMETEK’s payout ratio is presently 18.89%.

AMETEK Company Profile

AMETEK, Inc manufactures and sells electronic instruments and electromechanical devices in the North America, Europe, Asia, and South America, and internationally. The company's EIG segment offers advanced instruments for the process, aerospace, power, and industrial markets; process and analytical instruments for the oil and gas, petrochemical, pharmaceutical, semiconductor, automation, and food and beverage industries; instruments to the laboratory equipment, ultra-precision manufacturing, medical, and test and measurement markets; power quality monitoring and c devices, uninterruptible power supplies, programmable power and electromagnetic compatibility test equipment, and sensors for gas turbines and dashboard instruments; heavy trucks, instrumentation, and controls for the food and beverage industries; and aircraft and engine sensors, power supplies, embedded computing, monitoring, fuel and fluid measurement, and data acquisition systems for aerospace and defense industry.